Derby Talk

Derby Talk is a forum for Pinewood Derby, Awana Grand Prix, Kub Kar Rally, Shape N Race Derby, Space Derby, Raingutter Regatta and other similar races where a child and an adult work together to create a race vehicle and a lot of fun and memories

I have just gotten GPRM about 1 week ago and have been going through all of the documentation. In our pack we have several tiers of cars (as I suppose most do) and there are some that barely make it down the track (no matter how many workshops or how much information is presented) as well as those highly competitive cars.

In going through GPRM, I see the option for dynamic scheduling which sounds interesting. I see the drawbacks, and have read through the forums, and most of the comments are just that it is not preferred, however, I would like to get everybody's opinion on what I am thinking of:

Preliminary rounds (by ranks - some combined due to sizes) run 6 phases (we have a 3 lane track that we will be using) of dynamic scheduling to determine the top cars in each rank. And then take the top 4 from each rank and run a 2 round ppn to determine the pack champions and the trophies for the ranks.

I understand that the dynamic scheduling may not be as fair, but it seems to me like it may produce closer racing and keep everybody interested, and if it is just used to find the top 4 from each rank to advance to the medal round, it should be accurate enough, especially if we are only giving out 3 trophies for each rank and for the finals.

I know the other drawback is that there may be a short delay while we print out the schedule for the next phase, but that could be a quick break for those that need to use rest rooms, get a drink, etc.

I may be missing something (as usual), and would like the input of the gurus here on this awesome forum.

I understand that he concept of dynamic scheduling it to have cars spend most of their heats running against cars of comparable speed while still trying to have them race a wide variety of opponents. If I'm wrong in that understanding, then the following should be ignored!

Dynamic scheduling would not be tenable if it were applied for a "points final standings". The wins and losses are more or less significant depending on where one stands in the ranking.

If dynamic scheduling balanced lane assignments, then it would be tenable for timed racing, but the correlation to points (which is used by some to validate comparative times) would be absent.

If dynamic scheduling is viewed in the same fashion as multiple elimination (without actually ceasing to race poorer cars), then it should be usable for race management and understandable by the racers and their "interested parties."

Dynamic scheduling can be accomplished a couple of different ways. Average time is one way, but here's how GPRM does it:

Phase 1 - Each racer will be randomly assigned to a heat and lane.
Phase 2, 3, etc. - Seeding for all other phases will be based on:
1. Each racer's heat win count (the number of times they received 1st Place in a heat)
2. Lowest total number of points (based on their finish order for each heat). 1st Place = 1 Point, 2nd Place = 2 Points, etc.

The whole goal of the method is to maximize the number of heat winners. A side effect is that competition does get tighter for all levels of racers.

Lane equity is not guaranteed, but the software will do its best to balance it out.

From the software perspective, is there any weight given to the level of competition? In other words if the 3rd fastest car ends up racing the 1st and 2nd place cars, could he end up with higher points, and therefore end up not at the top, or does it take into account that it was constantly racing the top cars?

Rukkian wrote:From the software perspective, is there any weight given to the level of competition? In other words if the 3rd fastest car ends up racing the 1st and 2nd place cars, could he end up with higher points, and therefore end up not at the top, or does it take into account that it was constantly racing the top cars?

In terms of the final standings, No. It only factors into the heat matchups.